Leicester City beat Coventry City 2-0

WITH manager Andy Thorn laid up with a virus, Coventry saw their travel sickness continue against a slick Leicester side as Sammy Clingan’s missed penalty cost them dear – but boss for the day Steve Harrison refused to point the finger at the club captain.

WITH manager Andy Thorn laid up with a virus, Coventry saw their travel sickness continue against a slick Leicester side as Sammy Clingan’s missed penalty cost them dear – but boss for the day Steve Harrison refused to point the finger at the club captain.

The Sky Blues remain the only team in the country without an away league win this season after Foxes forwards David Nugent and Jermaine Beckford proved too hot to handle at the King Power Stadium.

At 1-0 down, however, substitute Clingan, usually so reliable from set-pieces, failed to beat Kasper Schmeichel and any chance of a Coventry fightback evaporated.

“I always say to a player ‘if you have the courage to take a penalty then take it’, and having just come on he took it, but I’m not going to blame him for missing it,” said assistant manager Harrison.

“I think Andy (Thorn) will be back for Tuesday night’s game. We’ve been speaking and he’s feeling a lot better.

“If he’s not back Tuesday, he’ll be back at the weekend.

“We will go through the video, analyse it and then put it to bed. If we can eradicate the negatives then there are a lot of positives.

“The saving grace is that we still haven’t won away from home but the attitude was good and it will come.”

It means Coventry travelled back down the M69 with again nothing to declare from their travels – an all-too-familiar feeling for a side who had hoped to build on last weekend’s morale-boosting win over Barnsley.

But once again, midweek financial troubles turned the Sky Blues grey – it’s a cloud that has plagued Coventry’s season and after incurring a transfer embargo in midweek, Harrison’s side crashed to a 20th league defeat of the season.

The powers-that-be claim there is little to fear, despite failing to file their accounts on time, but there is little smoke without fire and off-the-field problems could mean Coventry’s survival hopes go up in flames.

“At the end of the day if we drop our heads because of the embargo we’re letting the playing staff down,” added Harrison.

“The lads are incredibly enthusiastic and they need to keep like that and keep their chins up.

“Everyone is accountable and we need to keep going from here.

“The lads know we are going to go with the group we have and we will keep on going.

“There is still a spark and a very good chance for us to get out of it.

“Teams are looking over their shoulder and we won’t throw in the towel.”

On the field, there are glimmers of hope. Joe Murphy has been a one-man wall of defiance this season more often than not and his excellent early penalty save from Neil Danns ensured the Sky Blues were not put to the sword by Leicester.

David Bell’s jinking run and shot forced Schmeichel into a smart save after just 37 seconds as Coventry flew out of the traps and while he faded as the match went on, the ex-Norwich man shows verve in a team that lacks imagination.

After just seven minutes it appeared the resistance was over. Leicester were given a golden opportunity to open the scoring when Richie Wellens was tripped by Martin Cranie in the penalty box.

Danns stepped up but saw his placed effort superbly palmed to safety by Murphy low down to his left.

But Danns’ miss was forgotten about four minutes later as Nugent reacted first to stab home Beckford’s rebounded effort from four yards.

Beckford then squared for Ben Marshall to double the Foxes’ lead, but the former Stoke trainee – making his full home debut – fired off target with the goal gaping.

Coventry’s Bell produced a fabulous cross for Clive Platt five minutes after the interval, but Wes Morgan’s brave block prevented the target man from adding his name to the score sheet.

Nigel Pearson’s men added a second on the hour mark, Nugent squaring for Beckford to tap home after good build-up play involving Wellens.

But Leicester were caught flat-footed moments later as Morgan brought down the exciting Alex Nimely for a Coventry penalty – the Liberian forward remains the Sky Blues’ main goal threat but cannot produce it often enough.

Clingan, only just introduced into the action stepped up, but like Leicester’s Danns, saw his penalty parried to safety by the excellent Schmeichel.

Foxes men Lloyd Dyer and Danns both fired off target before Paul Konchesky was dismissed for a wild challenge on Nimely.

However, despite Konchesky’s dismissal, Leicester easily held on to keep their play-off ambitions alive while Coventry remain third from bottom in the Championship table.